Slots
Christopher Rider et al.
Georgetown University Working Paper, January 2016
Abstract:
Organizational leaders remain predominantly white despite increasing U.S. workforce diversity and efforts to increase racial minority representation in leadership. We propose that performance-reward bias (i.e., lesser rewards for equivalent performance) generates racial disparity in leadership by suppressing the rate at which minorities, relative to equally-performing whites, are promoted to positions considered prerequisite for organizational leadership. Career history analyses of over 1,200 National Football League coaches from 1985 to 2012 support this claim. Various fixed-effects specifications hold constant a coach’s initial and current position, enabling us to differentiate performance-reward bias from allocative mechanisms that match minorities, at hire and post-hire, to positions with inferior upward mobility prospects. We also examine racial disparity before and after implementation of a league-wide policy explicitly designed to increase the number of minorities interviewed for leadership positions. Although the disparity in head coach representation decreased after implementation, pre-implementation demographic trends prevent us from conclusively attributing this increase to the policy. Less equivocally, after implementation white assistant coaches continued to be promoted at higher rates than similarly-performing minority ones. Moreover, consistent with our arguments, this white advantage in promotion rates is specific to the transition from lower level positions to the one typically occupied prior to promotion to head coach (i.e., coordinators); no racial advantage is evident among occupants of this position. We conclude that racial disparity in organizational leadership is largely attributable to performance-reward bias in lower level positions.
---------------------
Intergenerational conflict and the political economy of higher education funding
Eric Brunner & Erik Johnson
Journal of Urban Economics, January 2016, Pages 73–87
Abstract:
We examine how a population's age distribution and a growing divide between the ethnic composition of older and young generations is likely to affect support for higher education funding. Using detailed survey data on voter preferences for higher education funding and precinct-level vote returns from locally-funded community college bond referenda in California, we find that older voters are significantly less supportive of higher education funding than younger voters and that support among older non-Hispanic white voters is particularly weak when those voters reside in a jurisdiction where the college-age population is more heavily Hispanic.
---------------------
What Is Good Isn't Always Fair: On the Unintended Effects of Framing Diversity as Good
Sophie Trawalter, Sara Driskell & Martin Davidson
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many proponents of diversity stress that diversity is good — good for universities to further their educational missions and good for businesses, for hiring talent and generating financial returns to shareholders. In this work, we examined costs of framing diversity as good for organizations vs. fair; specifically, we examined whether framing diversity as good for organizations broadens people's definitions of diversity and increases racial bias. In Study 1, White participants preferred the “diversity as good for organizations” frame and believed it to be effective at promoting diversity. In Studies 2–5, White participants presented with the “diversity is good for organizations” frame broadened their definitions of diversity (Studies 2–5) and deprioritized a qualified Black applicant (Studies 4 and 5). Participants low in resources were especially likely to deprioritize the Black applicant (Study 5). This latter finding led us to investigate the motivated nature of diversity frames. In a final study, we found that participants whose resources were threatened favored the “diversity is good for organizations” frame and devalued the “diversity is fair” frame (Study 6). These studies demonstrate that a well-intentioned plea to promote diversity (“diversity is good for organizations”) has costs; it can lead to the deprioritization of qualified Black applicants.
---------------------
Rajeev Darolia et al.
Applied Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
We sent nearly 9000 fictitious resumes to advertisements for job openings in seven major cities in the United States across six occupational categories. We randomly assigned names to the resumes that convey race and gender but for which a strong socio-economic connotation is not implicated. We find little evidence of systematic employer preferences for applicants from particular race and gender groups.
---------------------
Gender Differences in Compensation, Job Satisfaction and Other Practice Patterns in Urology
Sophie Spencer et al.
Journal of Urology, February 2016, Pages 450–455
Purpose: The proportion of women in urology has increased from less than 0.5% in 1981 to 10% today. Furthermore, 33% of students matching in urology are now female. In this analysis we characterize the female workforce in urology compared to that of men with regard to income, workload and job satisfaction.
Materials and Methods: We collaborated with the American Urological Association to survey its domestic membership of practicing urologists regarding socioeconomic, workforce and quality of life issues. A total of 6,511 survey invitations were sent via e-mail. The survey consisted of 26 questions and took approximately 13 minutes to complete. Linear regression models were used to evaluate bivariable and multivariable associations with job satisfaction and compensation.
Results: A total of 848 responses (660 or 90% male, 73 or 10% female) were collected for a total response rate of 13%. On bivariable analysis female urologists were younger (p <0.0001), more likely to be fellowship trained (p=0.002), worked in academics (p=0.008), were less likely to be self-employed and worked fewer hours (p=0.03) compared to male urologists. On multivariable analysis female gender was a significant predictor of lower compensation (p=0.001) when controlling for work hours, call frequency, age, practice setting and type, fellowship training and advance practice provider employment. Adjusted salaries among female urologists were $76,321 less than those of men. Gender was not a predictor of job satisfaction.
Conclusions: Female urologists are significantly less compensated compared to male urologists after adjusting for several factors likely contributing to compensation. There is no difference in job satisfaction between male and female urologists.
---------------------
Jenny Säve-Söderbergh & Gabriella Sjögren Lindquist
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using unique panel data, we compare the cognitive performance and wagering behaviour of children (10-11 years) with that of adults playing the Swedish version of the TV shows Jeopardy and Junior Jeopardy. Although facing the same well-known high-stakes game, and controlling for performance differences, there is no gender gap in risk-taking between girls and boys in contrast with adults, and while girls assume more risk than women, boys assume less risk than men. We also find that female behaviour is differently sensitive to social context. Whereas women wager less, girls perform worse and employ inferior wagering strategies when randomly assigned to male opponents.
---------------------
Unequal Depression for Equal Work? How the Wage Gap Explains Gendered Disparities in Mood Disorders
Jonathan Platt et al.
Social Science & Medicine, January 2016, Pages 1–8
Abstract:
Mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are more prevalent among women than men. This disparity may be partially due to the effects of structural gender discrimination in the work force, which acts to perpetuate gender differences in opportunities and resources and may manifest as the gender wage gap. We sought to quantify and operationalize the wage gap in order to explain the gender disparity in depression and anxiety disorders, using data from a 2001-2002 US nationally representative survey of 22,581 working adults ages 30-65. Using established Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methods to account for gender differences in individual-level productivity, our models reduced the wage gap in our sample by 13.5%, from 54% of men’s pay to 67.5% of men’s pay. We created a propensity-score matched sample of productivity indicators to test if the direction of the wage gap moderated the effects of gender on depression or anxiety. Where female income was less than the matched male counterpart, odds of both disorders were significantly higher among women versus men (major depressive disorder OR: 2.43, 95% CI: 1.95-3.04; generalized anxiety disorder OR: 4.11, 95% CI: 2.80-6.02). Where female income was greater than the matched male, the higher odds ratios for women for both disorders were significantly attenuated (Major Depressive Disorder OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 0.96-1.52) (Generalized Anxiety Disorder OR: 1.5; 95% CI: 1.04-2.29). The test for effect modification by sex and wage gap direction was statistically significant for both disorders. Structural forms of discrimination may explain mental health disparities at the population level. Beyond prohibiting overt gender discrimination, policies must be created to address embedded inequalities in procedures surrounding labor markets and compensation in the workplace.
---------------------
The Influence of Chronic and Situational Social Status on Stereotype Susceptibility
Vincent Pillaud, David Rigaud & Alain Clémence
PLoS ONE, December 2015
Abstract:
We tested whether stereotypical situations would affect low-status group members' performance more strongly than high-status group members'. Experiment 1 and 2 tested this hypothesis using gender as a proxy of chronic social status and a gender-neutral task that has been randomly presented to favor boys (men superiority condition), favor girls (women superiority condition), or show no gender preference (control condition). Both experiments found that women’s (Experiment 1) and girls’ performance (Experiment 2) suffered more from the evoked stereotypes than did men's and boys’ ones. This result was replicated in Experiment 3, indicating that short men (low-status group) were more affected compared to tall men (high-status group). Additionally, men were more affected compared to women when they perceived height as a threat. Hence, individuals are more or less vulnerable to identity threats as a function of the chronic social status at play; enjoying a high status provides protection and endorsing a low one weakens individual performance in stereotypical situations.
---------------------
Alexander Browman & Mesmin Destin
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Persistent academic achievement gaps exist between university students from high and low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. The current research proposes that the extent to which a university is perceived as actively supporting versus passively neglecting students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds can influence low-SES students’ academic motivation and self-concepts. In Experiments 1 and 2, low-SES students exposed to cues suggestive of an institution’s warmth toward socioeconomic diversity demonstrated greater academic efficacy, expectations, and implicit associations with high academic achievement compared with those exposed to cues indicating institutional chilliness. Exploring the phenomenology underlying these effects, Experiment 3 demonstrated that warmth cues led low-SES students to perceive their socioeconomic background as a better match with the rest of the student body and to perceive the university as more socioeconomically diverse than did chilliness cues. Contributions to our understanding of low-SES students’ psychological experiences in academic settings and practical implications for academic institutions are discussed.
---------------------
An Empirical Analysis of Racial Segregation in Higher Education
Peter Hinrichs
NBER Working Paper, December 2015
Abstract:
This descriptive paper documents how segregation between blacks and whites across colleges in the United States has evolved since the 1960s. It also explores potential channels through which changes are occurring, and it uses recent data to study the issue of segregation within colleges. The main findings are as follows: (1) White exposure to blacks has been rising since the 1960s, whereas black exposure to whites increased sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s and has fluctuated since then. Meanwhile, black-white dissimilarity and the Theil index fell sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s and have fallen more gradually since. (2) There has been regional convergence, although colleges in the South remain more segregated than those in any other region when measured by dissimilarity, by the Theil index, or by black exposure to whites. (3) A major channel for the decline in segregation is the declining share of blacks attending historically black colleges and universities. (4) Although there is segregation within universities, most segregation across major × university cells occurs across universities.
---------------------
Christin Munsch
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although flexible work arrangements have the potential to reduce gender inequality and work-family conflict, the implications of requesting flexible work are poorly understood. In this paper, I argue that because flexwork arrangements in the United States are ambiguous and uncertain, people draw on cultural beliefs about gender to define flexwork and evaluate flexworkers. I conducted a controlled online experiment to examine the consequences of making a flexible work request and to examine how these consequences vary by accommodation type and by gender and parental status of the requester. Participants evaluated employees who requested flexible work more negatively than employees who did not request flexible work, and evaluated workers who requested telecommuting (or “flexplace”) arrangements more negatively than workers who requested flextime arrangements. Men and women who requested flexible work for reasons related to childcare were evaluated more positively than those who requested flexible work for reasons unrelated to childcare. I also found evidence of a fatherhood bonus. Men who made flexplace requests to care for a child were significantly advantaged compared to men who made flexplace requests for reasons unrelated to childcare. They were also advantaged compared to women who made flexplace requests to care for a child.
---------------------
Danielle Young, Diana Sanchez & Leigh Wilton
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Understanding racial categorization processes has implications for how affirmative action policies are implemented. Two studies examined how socioeconomic status (SES) functions to predict support for application of affirmative action and other perceptions of Latino targets. SES emerged as a powerful predictor, over and above the influence of ancestry, on person perception (minority categorization, sociocultural cues) and support for affirmative action among both White (Studies 1 and 2) and minority (Study 2) perceivers. In conjunction with ancestry, SES influenced sociocultural impressions, such as perceptions of discrimination (Study 1 and Study 2) and cultural practices (Study 2), which informed support for implementation of affirmative action policies. Furthermore, the joint influence of SES and ancestry on affirmative action policies persisted even when controlling for general attitudes towards affirmative action (Study 2). Results suggest that SES is an important factor in person perception, and that perceptions of discrimination play a strong role in how “deserving” a target is of affirmative action.
---------------------
Laurie O’Brien et al.
Social Psychology of Education, December 2015, Pages 667-684
Abstract
Social identity threat has negative consequences for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The present study examined whether legitimacy beliefs — beliefs that status differences between men and women in STEM fields are fair — put women at risk for experiencing social identity threat and poorer performance on a difficult logic test. Legitimacy beliefs served as a risk factor for both women from ethnic groups that are overrepresented in STEM (e.g., Asian Americans and European Americans) and from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in STEM (African Americans and Latina Americans), albeit under different conditions. Among women from overrepresented ethnic groups, legitimacy beliefs were negatively related to test performance when explicit cues to sexism were present. However, among women from underrepresented ethnic groups, legitimacy beliefs were negatively related to test performance when explicit cues to sexism were absent. The present research points to the need for inclusion of ethnic diversity in studies of women in STEM.
---------------------
Does Entrepreneurship Training Lead to Entrepreneurship?
Elizabeth Lyons & Laurina Zhang
University of California Working Paper, December 2015
Abstract:
Interest in entrepreneurship training programs has increased significantly over the past decade. However, evaluating the efficacy of these programs has been difficult. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of an entrepreneurship training program provided to students in North America by comparing career decisions among the set of applicants who are accepted into the program with the set of applicants who are program finalists but not accepted. We find that being a participant in the program is positively related to the likelihood that applicants engage in subsequent entrepreneurship and the impact is more pronounced for those without prior entrepreneurship experience and minorities (females and non-Caucasians). Moreover, the effect is more persistent for minorities relative to non-minorities. This suggests the program is most effective for people that may otherwise have more limited access to entrepreneurial opportunities. We provide descriptive evidence that the program provides participants with networking and learning benefits. We discuss implications for entrepreneurship strategy and policy.